Mixed-use project appears a go in Oakdale

MSP Commercial hopes to build a new mixed-use development just off Interstate 694 in Oakdale. The building would host an Allina Health clinic and other retail and office uses, according to city documents. (Staff photo: Bill Klotz)

Plans for a new medical and retail building near a major Oakdale junction were expected to receive city approval Tuesday night.

MSP Commercial, an Eagan-based developer and owner of several medical buildings throughout the metro, proposed a 13,000 square-foot mixed-use building at the Oakdale Station development at 7400 33rd St. N., just east of Interstate 694 and south of Highway 5.

Site plans passed through the Oakdale Planning Commission unanimously last month and were due for a vote from the city council Tuesday evening.

A company representative said Tuesday that a poor economy was to blame for development not happening there sooner. The city approved other site plans there in 2008, but work never began.

“It’s always been a good site, it was just a casualty of the downturn,” said Alex Young, MSP vice president of development. “Now that things are picking up again and additional anchors have committed to that area, we feel strongly that’s a good long-term site for us.”

Established developments near the site include the Oakdale Marketplace, a 50-acre commercial development just a block to the east. The marketplace includes a Target retail store, McDonald’s restaurant, a bank branch and Pinz, a family entertainment center. The new development would also go in about two blocks southwest of Imation Corp.’s global headquarters at 1 Imation Way.

Young said the presence of those businesses and the I-694 interchange make the area attractive.

MSP Commercial’s new mixed-use building would rise at the southwest corner of Highway 5 and 32nd Street Northeast, just east of Interstate 694.

“It’s really one of the only great full interchange exits in that area between Stillwater and Oakdale,” he said.

About 7,200 square feet of the new building would be used for an Allina Health medical clinic and 5,400 square feet would be used either for retail or office space, according to city documents. Young declined to confirm any tenants for the building.

The project would become part of the Oakdale Station Planned Unit Development district, a 30-acre area between 32nd Street Northeast and I-694. An L.A. Fitness was built in the district in 2009, but the area is otherwise undeveloped. City planner Whitney Ridlon said this week that plans call for more new development in the district, especially southwest of the intersection of 32nd Street North and 32nd Street Northeast. City zoning calls for a variety of restaurants, office and commercial uses in the district, including a large grocery store or possibly a hotel.

Young said he didn’t know the project’s budget or construction timeline Tuesday.

Ridlon said many in the city hope the new building is a sign of things to come.

“After a few years of seeing not too much go in, it’s exciting to see some activity come in on this site,” Ridlon said. “There’s lots more room to come in.”